BERLIN, July 29 (Reuters) - The number of investors who
think a country will leave the euro zone soon has dropped by two
thirds in the year since the head of the bloc's central bank
promised to safeguard the currency, a survey published on Monday
showed.

The July poll of 888 investors by German research group
Sentix showed 23.75 percent of participants foresaw at least one
state quitting the 17-nation bloc within the next year.

Last July's euro break-up index reading was 73 percent.

That survey coincided with the pledge by European Central
Bank President Mario Draghi to do "whatever it takes" to save
the euro.

"The fears of investors, which were expressed in that high
July 2012 figure, prompted Draghi to go on the offensive and the
index fell significantly in the months after his announcement,
so you can see it had a real effect," Manfred Huebner, managing
director of Sentix, told Reuters.

However, economic stresses in the euro zone remain
significant. Sentix's most recent breakup reading rose slightly
from June and the risk of contagion hit a record high.

Draghi gave his message of support last July as Spain and
Italy faced rising pressure on financial markets and Greece held
fraught meetings with international lenders after failing to
stick to economic targets set under its bailout.

His promise calmed investors and led six weeks later to the
Outright Monetary Transactions (OMT) programme, under which the
ECB conditionally offered to buy unlimited amounts of bonds from
struggling states. The OMT programme has yet to be tapped.

A political crisis in Portugal and concerns about possible
snap elections there drove the Sentix index on euro zone
break-up around 4 percentage points on the month in July. The
percentage of investors expecting the country to leave the euro
zone doubled from 2.66 percent in June to 5.38 percent.

Sentix also said the risk of contagion hit an all-time peak
of 43.55 percent.

"If investors were worried especially about Greece in July
2012, we have Cyprus since March 2013 and now, with Portugal,
(there are) three states that hang in the balance should push
come to shove," Sentix said in a statement.